Varanasi. Today is a very important day for the Gyanvapi Masjid complex. The Supreme Court on Friday refused to stay the Archaeological Survey of India’s (ASI) scientific survey of the Gyanvapi mosque complex. The Supreme Court says that the ASI has clarified that the entire survey will be completed without any excavation and without causing any damage to the structure.
Court says that the Chief Justice of Allahabad High Court took note of ASI’s affidavit that they are not doing any excavation during their survey and no part of wall etc. will be touched.
What is the petition of the Muslim side?
- The mosque committee said the ASI survey would reopen wounds of the past.
- Muslim body Anjuman Intezamia Masjid Committee told the court that the ASI survey at Gyanvapi Masjid intended to go into history and would “re-open the wounds of the past”.
- Senior advocate Huzefa Ahmadi, appearing for the Masjid Management Committee, argued that this exercise by the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) amounts to digging up history, violating the Places of Worship Act, affecting secularism and brotherhood.
Regarding these things, the Muslim side’s SLP i.e. Special Leave Petition has been filed in the Supreme Court against the Allahabad High Court’s decision in the Gyanvapi case. Hearing the petition on Friday, a bench of Chief Justice DY Chandrachud, Justice JB Pardiwala and Justice Manoj Mishra asked the Muslim side what was the problem with the ASI survey?
Let us inform that, in the case, the Muslim side i.e. Anjuman Intezamia had requested the Supreme Court on Thursday to stop the survey and appealed to hear the petition soon.
The survey in Gyanvapi has been stopped for the last ten days. A 43-member team of ASI had reached for the survey on 24 July. The survey had also started at seven in the morning, but at around 12:30 in the afternoon, the matter of banning the survey had reached the Supreme Court. From that day till now, the survey work in Gyanvapi was stopped for 10 days by the orders of the Supreme Court and then the Allahabad High Court.
ASI survey started in Gyanvapi
The survey has started in the Gyanvapi campus by the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) team. In view of the survey in Gyanvapi, the police and administrative department of the district is on high alert. Police have tightened security near the Gyanvapi campus. Along with this, there is a high alert in Varanasi.
In the application filed in the court of District Judge Dr. Ajay Krishna Vishwesh, it has been said that the work of the survey has not been completed due to the pending hearing in the High Court and the stay on the survey. On August 3, the High Court has passed an order to continue the survey, lifting the ban.
On behalf of the ASI, Central Government’s advocates Amit Kumar Srivastava and Shambhu Sharan Singh presented an application in the court. A copy of this prayer letter was given to the advocates of the temple and mosque side.
Survey is being done in Gyanvapi with GPR technology
The survey in Gyanvapi is being done through Ground Penetrating Radar (GPR) technology. This technique is very special. In this, information about metal and other structures is available up to 10 meters depth without digging the ground.
How many days will it take to complete the survey?
Advocate Sudhir Tripathi, appearing for the Hindu side, said that only the ASI can tell how many days it will take to complete the survey. It took 7-8 months to complete the survey of the Ram temple in Ayodhya. In such a situation, now only the ASI can tell the fixed limit of the survey.